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Seth Wexler Sits Down With Friends of the Rail & Trail to Discuss Blended Mobility Approaches

By Barry Scott

In November, Friends of the Rail & Trail’s newsletter featured a “Transportation Synergy” article which showcased the international planning firm, Copenhagenize, and the inspiring results of their three-year Bike-Train-Bike, or BiTiBi, transportation mode integration project and study.

By providing safe bike parking and bike-share services at rail transit stops, integrating payment systems, and working with all of the stakeholders, the four cities involved in the project found significant growth in the number of cyclists and transit users, and a reduction in the number of car trips made to and from rail transit stops.

We recently had an opportunity to host a discussion with Michael Seth Wexler, Director for Copenhagenize North America while he was in the area consulting with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.

Here are some takeaways:


First, cities that implement smart blended mobility programs don’t have to be dense and don’t have to be particularly modern. As one example, Copenhagenize and the 880 cities organization worked with the City of Saskatoon and members of this growing Canadian community to develop a comprehensive Active Transportation Plan that meets their specific needs.

While needs and opportunities vary the principles for developing effective community-based and sustainable transportation solutions are universal across locations and populations.

Good planning is about a lot more than transportation, it’s also about public spaces. Michael told us about the Knight Foundation Knight Cities Grant, a program that encourages big ideas for transforming and inspiring inclusion within neighborhoods large and small.

Taking our cues from Copehnagenize, we feel this is the time to stake out a path toward collaboratively imagining a total transportation makeover, one that breaks down the competitive nature of the current paradigms, cars versus bikes versus transit, into a new vision that recognizes the possibilities of a synergistic, blended mobility network that can include “all of the above.”

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